Manipulation of biological cells, including cell fusion, has a number of experimental or clinical applications. In the past, many methodologies for cell fusion make use of chemical or viral agents in achieving such fusion. However, which such methodologies are useful to some extent, they are deficient in that the chemical or viral agent would affect the end products, i.e. the fused cells, and ultimately affect the use of the fused cells in subsequent applications. Further, such methodologies often have been unreliable in controlling of fusion of specific number of cells or inefficient in that relative large amounts of pre-fused cells are required.
The present invention seeks to address these issues, or at least to provide an alternative to the public.
The present invention has many applications in the life science industry, and in particular in advanced biomedical device (e.g. for diseases diagnosis), drug discovery and laboratory research and tests. This invention allows the use of stem cells in many cellular biomedical applications, such as gene expression, chromosomal mapping, antibody production, cancer immunotherapy, and cell reprogramming. According to market research study conducted prior to the filing of the present invention, the global market for stem cell products was $3.8 billion in 2011, and it is expected to reach nearly $6.6 billion by 2016, increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% from 2011 to 2016. The global market for membrane technology reached $3.8 billion in 2010, nearly $4.6 billion in 2011, and is forecasted to reach $7.3 billion in 2016 after increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9%. In view of these reasons, the present invention is technological advantageous.